Seulgi woke up at noon.

Despite having fallen asleep in the living room at around 10 in the evening halfway through their second movie, Seulgi still felt so tired when she woke up at four in the morning alone (Yeri left her at midnight) so she supposed that she might as well continue her sleep in her room. She figured that she'll just take a quick nap since it's still too early for breakfast.

So when she eventually padded out of her room to drink some water, she was surprised to see the dorm empty.

She grabbed her phone and dialled Wendy's number. 

"Hey, where are you guys?" Seulgi said as she threw herself on to the couch in the living room.

"Out shopping." Wendy replied. "I'm with Sooyoung."

"Unnie," Joy's voice sounded faint through the phone. "Hurry up. I see the store!"

"Coming, geez." Wendy called back. "There's breakfast in the fridge. I think unnie left you some pancakes. Gotta go. Joy's furious already."

"Bye." Seulgi said as she hung up.

She went over to the kitchen to inspect what Irene left her. True enough, a couple of pancakes were stacked together on a plate with a note (Don't skip meals) ​​​​​​on top of it. 

It was a simple gesture, but it made Seulgi happy for hours.

---

Irene finished her laundry earlier than she expected so she called up Yeri, who she was supposed to meet up with. 

"Yerim-ah." Irene spoke on the phone. "Where are you? I'm already done."

"I'm going out for lunch with some friends," The maknae answered. "Go on home without me, unnie."

"But you said we'd go home together!" Irene whined. The truth is, she just didn't want to go home alone in case Wendy and Joy aren't back yet. She doesn't want to be alone with Seulgi. 

"You can do it, Joohyun-unnie." Yeri laughed. "Or do you need me to give you directions?" 

"Just be back before dark, Kim Yerim." Irene replied. 

"I will. Byeeeeeeeee!"

As soon as she hung up, Irene dialled another number. 

"Hey," Joy's voice rang from the other end. "What's up, unnie?" 

"Park Sooyoung. Are you and Seungwan still out?" Irene said. "Where are you guys? I'll meet you there."

"Yes."

Irene furrowed her brows. "What do you mean, 'yes'? Yes to what?" 

"Yes, we're still out." Joy answered. 

Wendy suddenly interjected. "Is that Joohyun-unnie? Tell her we're on our way home. Ask her if she wants some bubble tea."

"No, I don't want bubble tea." Irene cut off Joy who was just about to relay the message. "I'll just come meet you girls."

"But we're on our way home," Joy replied. "Just meet us back at the dorm. Do you want pearls with your bubble tea?" 

Irene sighed. "Yes, please."

---

Much to her dismay, when Irene got home, Joy and Wendy were still nowhere to be found. She tried to tiptoe straight to her room to avoid Seulgi but as soon as she passed the living room, she locked eyes with Seulgi who was hanging around in the kitchen.

"Hey," Irene shot a nervous smile towards Seulgi. "You're awake."

"Yeah." The dancer smiled up at Irene. "Thanks for the food, by the way."

"It's no problem." She responded. 

Seulgi walked over to the couch and patted the space next to her. "Come sit down, I'm watching a movie."

Irene didn't hesitate. It was the first time Seulgi reached out to her in weeks so she's just grateful that they're back to speaking terms. 

Half an hour into the movie, Seulgi's phone kept buzzing. She took one look at the notification, quickly put it to vibrate, and set the phone down. It kept vibrating occasionally for the duration of the movie until finally, Irene couldn't stop herself. 

"If it's something important, I can pause the movie." She offered. 

Seulgi just shook her head. "It's not important."

"You seem to be on your phone a lot these days," Irene commented. She tried to keep her tone light. "Seungwan told me you.. you have been seeing someone?" 

Seulgi's mouth formed into a hard line. "Uh huh." She eventually managed to say. 

Irene didn't press for more. She can tell Seulgi didn't want to talk about it and she briefly worried if she got Wendy in trouble for mentioning the fact that Seulgi was dating. 

Still, she couldn't help but feel just a bit of twinge in her heart upon confirming the truth. She didn't really understand why because she didn't have feelings for Seulgi anymore; she left all that back in their trainee days. 

But ever since that night at the last day of their Monster promotion.. 

Irene shrugged the thought away. She shouldn't be thinking about that. Instead, she just reasoned that maybe the reason why she felt hurt was because Seulgi told Wendy and she didn't tell her. She reasoned that maybe Seulgi was just not yet ready to talk about her new love interest.

Still, Irene blurted out the next words before she could stop herself. 

"Is it someone I know?"